Insights from students, state officials and legislators—WSSDA’s Advocacy Videos Playlist

2021 Legislative Session YouTube

The WSSDA strategic advocacy team has recorded many videos during the 2021 legislative session, and you can now get them all in one place! There are 20 different YouTube videos featuring WSSDA staff with school board members, students, legislators and education partners. We are excited…

Student Advocate Spotlight: Stella Keating

Stella Keating is a Tacoma Public Schools student advocate, and the first transgender teen to ever testify to the U.S. Senate. A sixteen-year-old high school sophomore, Stella is an aspiring politician who helped launch The GenderCool Project—an awareness campaign turned movement that spotlights positive…

Legislative Session Week 10

We are more than halfway done with the 2021 session. Proposals for our state’s three budgets (operating, transportation, and construction) will be unveiled next week. The Washington State Wire released this insightful piece about the complexities of the budget process. You can also stay up-to-date by…

Board Members: Sign Up to Meet With Your Legislators

Week on the Hill planning meetings begin Monday, March 8. Sign up for your planning meeting and prepare to meet with your legislators! Week on the Hill: Planning Meetings Prepare for meeting legislators by gathering your thoughts and networking with colleagues. We’ve organized planning…

Legislative Session Week Eight: Bill Highlights

This week, WSSDA has a list of bills that our members may be interested in tracking.  If you or your district would like to provide input, you can do so in a variety of ways. Learn more about how to participate in the legislative process!  Flexibility…

Tips for Effective Advocacy From Director Sara Betnel

WSSDA regularly asks school directors to share insights on various topics as a way for board members to learn from one another’s experience. Below are some tips for successful advocacy work plus the following example of engaging with lawmakers during a legislative session. Sara Betnel…

Legislative Session Week Seven: Bill Highlights and Preparing for Week on the Hill

Student well-being is one of WSSDA’s consistent legislative priorities. Furthermore, WASA, WSSDA, and WASBO identified this issue as one of three “hot topics” for the upcoming legislator meetings during “Week on the Hill.”  In our interview with Representative Callan (below), we talked about several bills that expand on…

Legislative Session Week Six: Connect and Collaborate

Monday, February 22, marks the fiscal committee cutoff for the 2021 legislative session. This means that any bill that has not been passed through an executive session (a.k.a. “exec’d”) out of its fiscal committee of origin (e.g., House Appropriations, Senate Ways & Means) by the end…

Advocating for Digital Equity

School directors adopted two legislative positions supporting digital equity at WSSDA’s General Assembly, ranking them both in our top 10 priorities for this legislative session. There are many bills this session addressing digital equity that focus on three areas: devices, broadband access, and digital literacy/training. WSSDA created…

Legislative Session Week Four: Activating the Advocacy Network

Periodically during a legislative session, WSSDA’s strategic advocacy team will call on school board members to contact legislators to request urgent action. The advocacy team does this when the voices of WSSDA members are essential to promote legislative action supporting the positions and priorities…